CONTRIBUTION TO THE LIFE -HI STORY OF HELIOTHIS PELTIGERA. 283 



and beyond this is a conspicuous pearly-grey fringe. The hindwings are grey, 

 faintly tinged with rose colour towards the anal angle and inner margin, and with 

 several dark and pale indistinct transverse wavy lines, and with the black hind 

 marginal line and pearly-grey fringe as in the forewings. Of course, the chief 

 character of this aberration is the conspicuous pearly-grey fringe, which is al^sent in 

 typical examples. 



(2) C. fliiviata ab. olivacea, n. ab. — In this aberration, which is rare, and seems 

 to occur only among the females, the purple-brown of the forewings is replaced 

 by olive-brown, but all the other characters are the same as in typical specimens. 

 I have, however, two examples of this aberration which possess the conspicuous 

 pearly-grey fringe characteristic of ab. marginata, but do not think it necessary to 

 give them a varietal name. 



(3) C. fluviata ab. ohsoleta, n. ab. — In this aberration, which is confined to 

 the males, the dark median band is nearly obsolete, or altogether absent. 



With reference to my query at the beginning of this paper, as to 

 the retiring habits of this species, I may mention that, on several occa- 

 sions when removing bred moths from the breeding-cages, some of 

 them have escaped, but instead of flying towards the window, as most 

 Geometers do, or to the ceiling, they almost always fluttered low and 

 gently downwards, and hid themselves beneath a table or in some dark 

 corner of the room. The one I found in the daytime in High Street, 

 Dovercourt, was sitting on the wall within an inch of the ground. 



Contribution to tlie Iife=history of Heliotliis peltigera. 



By ALFRED SICH, F.E.S. 



On July 13th, 1906, Mr. Eustace E. riankes took, in the Isle of 

 Purbeck, a ? Heliothis peltigera, and subsequently obtained ova, one 

 of which, and the larva produced from it, owing to the kindness of Mr. 

 Bankes, form the subject of these notes. 



Ovum. — Upright, conoid, bluntly rounded towards the top, with the 

 apex itself containing a depression in its centre, raised above the 

 general surface. Height, 0-52mm. Diameter, at the base, 0*5mm., 

 at the top, 0'23mm. Basal outline not regular. Sculpture: the shell 

 is very finely pitted ; there are about 35 primary ribs, which are reduced 

 in number as they approach the micropylar area, where they are but 

 fifteen. These ribs are irregular, rather thick (0-01 6mm.), somewhat 

 keeled. They decrease by running into each other, or by ceasing more 

 or less abruptly. The interspaces between the ribs are about equal in 

 width to the breadth of the ribs. About twenty weak wrinkles encircle 

 the egg, more defined towards the base and summit. The micropyle 

 lies at the summit, on an elevation, down the upper slopes of which the 

 cells of the neat and conspicuous rosette extend. The apex of this 

 elevation is depressed, and, in the centre of the depression, is a raised 

 point, from which the twelve elongated kite-shape cells of the rosette 

 radiate. These cells vary much in length, the longest being 0-05mm. 

 and the shortest about half that length. [Described, July 18th, 1906, 

 from a single ovum, just before hatching. The black head of the larva 

 and its yellow body were distinctly visible through the thin, almost 

 colourless, eggshell. On hatching, the larva cut a hole in the wall of 

 the egg near the summit, but left the shell otherwise uneaten.] 



Habits of larva. — After hatching, the slender, pale yellow, larva hid 

 itself in the flower-head of Trifolium repens, with which it was supplied, 

 boring into the florets. It appeared particularly fond of the anthers. 

 It hatched on July 18th, and, on the morning of the 22nd, it had spun a 



